Why did the image of a woman at the piano captivate 19th-century painters?
In short: Music historian Marina Frolova-Walker examines the rise of the femme au piano genre in French art. This lecture traces the evolution of the piano as a middle-class status symbol, exploring how artists from Vermeer to Matisse used the instrument to frame the role of women in music-making.
The lecture investigates the sudden popularity of women at the piano in 19th-century French painting, featuring works by Renoir, Van Gogh, and Matisse. By looking back to Italian Renaissance clavichord depictions and Dutch domestic scenes by Vermeer, Frolova-Walker reveals how these portraits serve as a historical window into women's musical lives.
Beyond the aesthetic, the piano functioned as a crucial middle-class status symbol. The presentation further explores how modernists in the 1910s and 1920s reinterpreted this imagery. Recorded on 10th December 2024, the lecture is delivered by Marina Frolova-Walker, a Fellow of the British Academy and Professor of Music History at Clare College, Cambridge.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Women at the Piano: A History Through Images - Marina Frolova-Walker
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